Description
A boli is a type of Bamana power object, an object charged with spiritual energy that can affect human life. Like this one resembling a bush cow or hippopotamus, they are typically made of wood wrapped in layers of cotton cloth and covered with sacrificial materials—including animal blood, plant extracts, and dirt—imbued with energy by a specialist in healing and divining.
A boli is commissioned and cared for by an organization like Kono or Komo that oversees the various spiritual rites of a community in order to harness spiritual energy for protective or therapeutic purposes.
Provenance
Harold and Mary X. Weinstein, Chicago, Ill., by 1961; given to the Art Institute, 1961.
Accession Number
154023
Medium
Wood, cloth, mud, and sacrificial material
Dimensions
48.3 × 31.8 × 50.8 cm (19 × 12 1/2 × 20 in.)
Classification
wood
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold X. Weinstein